h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(Sorry about the awkward heading.)
During my coming 6 week summer holiday I would like to undertake a project which I don't think follows the usual pattern of university projects.
Some of the writing on h2g2 that has impressed me most has been eye witness accounts of things - my main interest being attendance at festivals (mainly music) such as the account of the tragic events at Roskilde last summer. I feel that some of this is being overlooked because there is no 'signpost' to it - it is not likely to be approved or edited because it is written in the 'wrong' style for the Approved Guide. I feel that articles written in this style are very important in the same way that such things as autobiographies and diaries are in the literary world and would like to collect as many of them as I can find and also get new ones written all on the theme of Festivals (Music Festivals might be too narrow although there are enough around the world).
I don't want to promote a lot of 'Gonzo' writing and I do understand that publishing subjective views are not what h2g2 is about in the main but on the other hand there is some great writing out there. Would this be allowed as a University project? If not is there another home for it?
(Thanks for reading all this)

Hi there Nitpicker

You're right, we currently don't accept entries written in the first person into the Edited Guide. Because of this it would be really difficult to get this kind of thing through the university.

Would it be possible to do it as a community centred club? I'd be happy to advertise it. Get a number of entries together with an index page. Maybe we could make it date sensitive, highlight a particular event when it comes around again, places to go in real-time?

What do you think? Can you see where I'm heading with this?

Thanks for the suggestion, it sound excellent especially the date sensitive idea. Any place you can find for my idea would be very welcome. I haven't got the time to do the work until the summer although I will start trawling the archives for pieces already written and also try to learn some GuideML in the meantime. Just tell me what to do. School breaks up around the 20th July and then I will have a whole 6 weeks to really work on it.

Okay, that would be great. Ashley and I might be going to Knebworth this year, maybe we can write something for your project too!

Peta

That would be fantastic - I went to Knebworth a very long time ago. I seem to remember seeing Captain Beefheart and the Steve Miller Band. Also, the four people behind us had a cooler box (very revolutionary in those days) full of yummy M&S foods - well yummy by festival standards. AND they had a portable TV and they watched the Wimbledon Men's Singles being won by Arthur Ashe during the afternoon! I will start looking for some of the other articles that I liked and get back to you when I've got something together.

Thanks for your encouragement and very speedy response

You're welcome.

Apparently Knebworth this year is going to be an all night event, more of a rave. They haven't done an overnight thing before, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Current University Projects' to 'What is an h2g2 University Project?'.